You punch me? Yeah, I might shoot too!

Surveillance video shows violent confrontation at gas station

KHOU.com: As family members of a man who was shot by a Valero clerk in southeast Houston called for the store clerk’s arrest, the store owner released surveillance video.

Alexander Calloway, 21, and his two cousins were trying to enter the gas station on Martin Luther King and Belarbor around 3:30 a.m., but the store was locked. The young men got into an argument with the clerk, who unlocked his door and came outside, police said. Someone punched the clerk in the face and the clerk pulled out his gun and shot Calloway in the stomach, according to Houston Police Department (HPD).

Calloway’s cousins rushed him to a fire station on Cullen at Selinsky, and paramedics transported him to Ben Taub Hospital in critical condition.

On Tuesday, the store owner played the surveillance video for KHOU 11 News. It showed the store clerk being punched by Calloway before the clerk opened fire.

Community members marched in front of the store and demanded justice. Calloway’s father blamed the clerk for what happened to his son. “I’m just hurt,” said Allexander Calloway. “He didn’t have to shoot my son. He didn’t have to shoot my son.”

The store owner, who has stood by his employee’s right to defend himself, said the clerk no longer has a job. “For the sake of the community, we feel very strongly that he won’t be coming back to work,” said George Hlaiheo.

Activist Quanell X said both men shared blame for what happened. “We want the store merchants to respect us but we must respect them,” he said.

Maybe the clerk didn’t have to shoot Calloway yet the man didn’t have to punch the store clerk. What is the clerk to believe when a man comes to the store at 3:30 a.m. and throws a punch in his face? That the customer wanted change for a five? If I get punched in the face I doubt I’m going to wait around for the second punch, or possibly much worse.

7 responses to “You punch me? Yeah, I might shoot too!”

Typical responce.
3:00 am?
What day of the week was it? If it was in the middle of the week, I would only have another hour before my alarm clock would go off!
Wonder if a tox screen was done on the guy that got shot?
Would like to see update on that. I’m sure that if the screen came out “hot” it won’t be aired.

From the Times Dispatch out of Richmond, VA:
Gun-related violent crime in Virginia has dropped steadily over the past six years as the sale of firearms has soared to a new record, according to an analysis of state crime data with state records of gun sales.
The total number of firearms purchased in Virginia increased 73 percent from 2006 to 2011. When state population increases are factored in, gun purchases per 100,000 Virginians rose 63 percent.
But the total number of gun-related violent crimes fell 24 percent over that period, and when adjusted for population, gun-related offenses dropped more than 27 percent, from 79 crimes per 100,000 in 2006 to 57 crimes in 2011.
The numbers appear to contradict a long-running popular narrative that more guns cause more violent crime, said Virginia Commonwealth University professor Thomas R. Baker, who compared Virginia crime data for those years with gun-dealer sales estimates obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Molon labe!

So the clerk is supposed to let someone throw a punch at him and wait for what else might happen? Yes, shooting might be extreme in someone’s opinion yet the circumstances of working at a store and being punched at 3:30 am might indicate that the punk was intending to do more harm.